pilgarlic
(pɪlˈgɑːlɪk)
Also 6 pyllyd, 7 pild-, peeled garlic(k; 7–9 peel-garlic.
[f. pilled, peeled ppl. a.1 + garlic n.; cf. pilcorn, pilledow, pilpate.]
An appellation given first to a ‘pilled’ or bald head, ludicrously likened to a peeled head of garlic (see garlic-head, garlic n. 3), and then to a bald-headed man, sometimes with insinuation as to an alleged cause (quots. 1619, 1671); from the 17th c. applied in a ludicrously contemptuous or mock-pitiful way: ‘poor creature’. Now dial. in various shades of meaning. Also attrib.
| α a 1529 Skelton Poems agst. Garnesche Wks. 1843 I. 122 Ye loste hyr fauyr quyt; Your pyllyd garleke hed Cowde hocupy there no stede; She callyd yow Syr Gy of Gaunt. ? a 1605 ? Stow (Farmer), He will soon be a peeled garlic like myself. 1619 J. T. (title) The Hunting of the Pox: a pleasant Discourse betweene the Authour and Pild-Garlike, wherein is declared the Nature of the Disease, how it came, and how it may be cured. Ibid. i, I ouertooke Pild-Garlike on the way. Ibid. ii, He had of Spanish Buttons store vpon his forehead mixt; And where that they were falne away, there Stooles in place were fixt. 1671 Skinner Etymol. Ling. Angl., Pill'd or Peel'd Garlick, cui Cutis (hoc est Pellis) vel Pili omnes ex morbo aliquo, præsertim Lue Venerea, defluxerunt. |
| β a 1625 Fletcher Hum. Lieut. ii. ii, And there got he a knocke and down goes pilgarlike, Commends his soule to his she-saint and exit. 1667 Denham Direct. Painter ii. viii. 28 Poor Peel-Garlick George. 1699 Boyer Dict. Franc. Ang. I. s.v. Sangler, The poor pilgarlick was soundly horsewhipped. 1824 Carlyle in Froude Life (1882) I. xiv. 247 The strange pilgarlic figures that I saw breakfasting over a few expiring embers on roasted apples. 1843 J. Ballantine Gaberl. W., Wee Raggit Laddie iv, Our gentry's wee peel-garlic getts Feed on bear meal an' sma' ale swats. 1880 Antrim & Down Gloss., Peel garlick, a yellow person; a person dressed shabbily or fantastically. 1888–90 Sheffield Gloss., Pillgarlic, sb. a poor, ill-dressed person; an object of pity or contempt. 1894 Punch 21 Apr. 186 No! 'tis Bull is pilgarlic and martyr. |
b. Used by the speaker of himself as a
quasi-proper name; commonly
poor Pilgarlic = poor I, poor me.
dial. and
U.S. colloq. or
slang.| 1694 Echard Plautus 116 They cou'dn't save poor Pilgarlick from going to Pot. 1738 Swift Pol. Conversat. 75 They went all to the opera; and so poor Pilgarlick came home alone. 1793 Burns Lett., to G. Thomson Sept., A ballad is my hobby-horse,..that..is sure to run poor pilgarlick, the bedlam jockey, quite beyond any useful point or post in the common race of men. 1884 H. Collingwood Under Meteor Flag 173 Little Summers and I—poor Pilgarlic—were so entirely consumed with disgust. 1889 Farmer Dict. Amer., Pilgarlic.., one's self. Thus a thief will inform a pal that pilgarlic was engaged in any given undertaking. |
Hence
pilˈgarlicky a., pitiable, poor-spirited.
| 1893 E. Gosse Crit. Kit-Kats (1896) 96 It is a pilgarlicky mind that is satisfied with saying, ‘I like you, Dr. Fell, the reason why I cannot tell’. |